When I saw some birds attempting to steal our berries, I sprang into action and collected all the ripe berries from our nine Saskatoon bushes. This type of berry is relatively easy to pick. A gentle tug releases the ripe ones, but leaves the others behind. Also, the color stands out well against the foliage […]
On Thursday, we were treated to the sight of a magnificent solar halo gracing the evening sky. As is the case with many of the arcs, spots, and lines we are privileged to see in the arctic sky, solar haloes are also formed by sunlight refracting through ice crystals. In this particular case, the ice
Inaccurate Weather Prediction! Read More »
Our honeyberries are now ripe enough to begin our first harvest. Today, Melissa picked about two handfuls to evaluate the flavor. When I saw the berries in a plain white container, I thought they would make a nice holiday picture on one of our red-edged plates. This year, the honeyberry bushes, newly transplanted, have yielded
Here are example pieces from the largest printing job I have run, thus far. These four components are for the driving system that will turn the seed collection disks and set the spacing between the seeds when they are planted in the ground. By carefully selecting the physical destinations of the different pieces on the
Seeder Project – Driving System Read More »
The seeder I designed has hoppers that can be repositioned, as needed, to drop the seeds wherever the user desires them. The current plan is to arrange five hoppers on two 4’-long rails. If the hoppers are spaced every 6”, with open space at each end, the effective coverage area would be about 3’ wide.
Seeder Project – Supports Read More »
While testing the function of the seed collection disk, it immediately became clear that circular indentations were not the best choice for collecting seeds. My thought was that a circular indentation would allow for the seeds to be collected in any orientation. Unfortunately, it also allows for multiple seeds to be collected at once. Another
Seeder Project – Disks Read More »
Today, I reached a milestone in an important project. Making better use of our field across the street has been a perpetual endeavor. Unfortunately, planting a crop has proven easier than harvesting one, due mostly to the difficulty of keeping weeds under control during the growing season. A major component to the difficulty of
Seeder Project Begins Read More »
The chokecherries on our lots have been blooming for some time. Today they caught my attention in particular. The sky was a clear blue and there was enough of a breeze that some falling petals swirled along twisting paths as they drifted to the ground. The sunlight on the white blossoms made for such a
The first step in the process of preparing the field for planting was to clear the ground of fallen trees by cutting them into firewood. I limited myself to the trees which were either a direct impediment to tilling, or so close to the field as to limit my movement in the vicinity. Selective though